Need help check my H1 status.

P

PingGC

New Member
I-485 stage. Need help check my H1 status.

H1 and employment facts:

I was working on H1 (validity: 06/30/2000 - 04/30/2003) for Company-A. I got laid-off on 12/31/2001. I was asked to find a sponsor and new job within 10 days. Apparently they did not withdraw my H1 until 02/15/2002 -- just guessing -- as they paid me the bonus on 02/15/2002.

Another company, “Company-B”, filed H1 for me on 02/04/2002 (Receipt Date) with 02/09/2002 as Notice date. I was asked to submit a certificate to Company-B's attorney stating that pay-stub dated 31/01/2001 was the last pay-stub issued to me. I guess that was submitted with the petition for H1. Please note the bonus from Company-A was paid later, whereas Company-B’s H1 was filed in the meantime. Also there was a sort of verbal agreement between me and Company-B that they would not offer me a job or issue an employment letter until H1 is approved.

On 06/10/2002 Company-B's H1 got approved -- validity 02/10/2002 to 08/15/2003.

On 06/15/2002 Company-B issued a job offer letter. Started work for Company-B on 06/20/2002. Due to desi style functioning of the company I got my first pay check from Company-B on 09/22/2002. Although it is for the pay-period starting 06/20/2002 but to cover their a.., the check states the pay period as 08/20/2002 to 09/20/2002. The earnings on the tax return for this year show significant decline from other years -- before and after this. A copy of this tax return is used with my I-485 filing.

Gurus here are some questions that bother me.

Q1. Based on the above events and dates, on which they occurred, please check if I was out of status ever? :confused:

Q2.1 If "Yes", what should I do? :mad:

Q2.2 If "No", why do you think so? :p
 
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PingGC said:
On 06/10/2002 Company-B's H1 got approved -- validity 02/10/2002 to 08/15/2003.
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There is one more piece of information that I would need to definitively answer this; was there an I-94 attached to the bottom right corner of this approval notice?
 
TheRealCanadian said:
There is one more piece of information that I would need to definitively answer this; was there an I-94 attached to the bottom right corner of this approval notice?
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Yes. It was approved with I-94.
 
TheRealCanadian said:
In such a case, you were out of status from 1/31/2001 (tell me that's a typo and you meant 1/31/2002) to 2/10/2002. There was no illegal presence.
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Sorry. That was a typo. Actual date was 12/31/2001. I have corrected my orginal message as well.
Thank you TheRealCanadian.
Can you please examine it one more time and write back your thoughts.
 
PingGC said:
Sorry. That was a typo. Actual date was 12/31/2001. I have corrected my orginal message as well. Can you please examine it one more time and write back your thoughts.
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Well, since USCIS provided an I-94 with the latest H-1 approval, they've effectively forgiven your out of status period from 12/31/01 to 02/10/02. So you should be good in that regard.

The only other area where an out of status period could bite you is a GC application. Since you were out of status for less than 180 days, you can still file an I-485 and claim relief under 245k with no penalty. Even if the out of status period exceeded 180 days, since there was no illegal presence you could do Consular Processing without issue.

Bottom line - you're fine.
 
TheRealCanadian said:
Well, since USCIS provided an I-94 with the latest H-1 approval, they've effectively forgiven your out of status period from 12/31/01 to 02/10/02. So you should be good in that regard.

The only other area where an out of status period could bite you is a GC application. Since you were out of status for less than 180 days, you can still file an I-485 and claim relief under 245k with no penalty. Even if the out of status period exceeded 180 days, since there was no illegal presence you could do Consular Processing without issue.

Bottom line - you're fine.
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Well TheRealCandian, looks like status gets determined on the basis of H1's validity dates. Don't you think payroll could also matter. PingGC was not on any company's payroll for good 8 months. I am not sure if BCIS uses payroll record to determine status or continuity during I-485.
 
gka said:
Well TheRealCandian, looks like status gets determined on the basis of H1's validity dates. Don't you think payroll could also matter. PingGC was not on any company's payroll for good 8 months.
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Payroll certainly does matter. That's why I said that he was out of status as of his last date at Employer A, 12/31. However, since USCIS provided a retroactive I-94 going back to February, they essentially "forgave" the last six months.
 
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